Chapter 1860: Chapter 1860

To be precise, after the "Independence Day" created a miracle at the box office, the whole of Hollywood was in turmoil. The opening of the era of commercial blockbusters is an earth-shaking change for any production company or distribution company, and everyone must adjust their plans. Even the strategy of the brokerage company is bound to change. For everyone, this period is a challenge, but also an opportunity.

No one can deny the huge commercial value contained in the name "Hugo-Lancaster" behind this great change.

Compared with the global box office of 1.255 billion US dollars created by "Independence Day", what is more terrifying is that the battle of the century, the ultimate showdown and the consistent global tour set off in "The Storm" Among them, the added value generated by Hugo has fully covered many fields such as catering, transportation, clothing, daily necessities, media, etc., driving the rapid flow of at least one billion US dollars, and the additional profits generated by it have far exceeded The incredible global box office of "Independence Day".

Of course, for Hollywood, Hugo's greatest value is his attractiveness and topicality as an actor. Leaving aside the success or failure of the movie box office, the social effect of "Seven Deadly Sins", the shortage of "Death Row Walk", the empty alleys of "Independence Day", and the chain reaction of the filming of "LA Confidential", the entire industrial chain centered on the work They were all revived. This value cannot be ignored by any top production company.

Paramount is no exception.

The project "The Truman Show" first appeared in 1991, when screenwriter Andrew Niccol (Andrew. Niccol) planned to write a sci-fi thriller movie, the story took place in New York City. In 1993, the famous producer Scott Rudin (Scott. Rudin) bought the script and let Paramount agree to produce and distribute it. Originally Scott planned to have Andrew as the director, but in fact "The Truman Show" is only Scott's second screenwriting work, and Paramount believes that the $60 million budget cannot afford the risk. So, in the directing stage, I tossed back and forth for half a year.

After Peter Weir decided to take over the script, he put forward a different idea. He thought the original script was too dark and depressing. deep purpose. The script went through the process of overturning and rewriting, rewriting and overthrowing again and again, and finally found Jim Carrey at the end of 1995.

However, when faced with "The Truman Show" and "Special Agent Ace", Jin chose the latter. Needless to say, the reason is 20 million US dollars in salary. Kim followed Hugo to become the second member of the 20 million club in film history.

Later, after filming "Kingsman" ended, King signed on "Liar. Liar" and turned down "The Truman Show" for the second time. But then things turned out a bit unexpectedly, as "Kingsman" flopped at the box office and "Independence Day" blew up at the box office, putting King in an awkward position.

After the filming of "Little Liar" ended, King did not reject "The Truman Show", but the problem was that Paramount questioned King's box office appeal. As a result, there were disagreements within the company. Some people believed that Kim should be used, while others believed that better comedians should be found again.

At the Berlin Film Festival in February this year, Shirley had already started planning to let Hugo replace Jin in the filming of "The Truman Show". On the one hand, the fiasco at the box office of "Ace Agent" and Kim's procrastination challenged Shirley's bottom line of patience; on the other hand, Hugo's idea of ​​comedy gradually spread in the circle. But it's a pity that Hugo didn't have any idea about taking on the new film at that time. In the end, Paramount reached a tentative consensus: they want to see the box office of "Liargian" before deciding whether to use gold.

In April, "The Big Talker" was officially released, and the box office performance of 30 million U.S. dollars in the premiere was good. Relying on the love of the audience, this work with an investment of 50 million U.S. dollars has now won a box office of 160 million U.S. dollars—— The film is still in theaters, which has restarted negotiations between King and Paramount.

Thanks to the box office success of "Little Liar", Kim insisted on asking for a salary of 20 million US dollars. It is an affirmation of his "20 million club". In fact, Kim's request is not too much. He is not only the most expensive comedian in the United States, but also the most appealing member among all actors.

However, in Paramount's mind, this is not a cost-effective deal. Although "Little Liar" has entered a profit model, it is far from meeting their expectations. With the same salary of 20 million US dollars, Hugo is not only more cost-effective, but also has a higher rate of return. More importantly, Hugo's added value far exceeds that of Jin.

In fact, the cost consumption of "Titanic" has far exceeded expectations. Not only is 20th Century Fox shrinking its budget, so that there have been no major projects for more than a year, even Paramount has to be cautious. . "The Truman Show" invested 60 million yuan, which is considered an upper-middle investment among commercial films, but for a literary film or a comedy film, this investment can be regarded as a huge amount of money, so they can't help it. Don't be more cautious.

After the negotiations reached a stalemate, the "as good as it gets" project was born.

At the same time, DreamWorks made frequent moves, not only launching the huge plan of "Saving Private Ryan", but also putting the distribution department on the agenda; in addition, Endeavor Elite Brokerage Company seized the opportunity and rose rapidly. The speed increases, and its Hollywood status rises even more. A series of actions centered on Hugo are eye-catching, and the commercial value of Hugo is further bullish.

Interestingly, just a week ago, when Alan Strelow was attending a private party, he discussed the topic of film investment with his friends. At that time, Alan jokingly said that he was willing to invest 100 million US dollars for "as good as it gets" because He believes that a good return will satisfy him. In fact, this private party does not have much connection with Hollywood, it is a party gathered by a group of Wall Street people. But Allen's words aroused Viacom's interest.

Viacom, the parent company of Paramount.

They made an account: invest 60 million US dollars to star in "The Truman Show", it is better to invest 100 million US dollars to star Hugo in two works - "As Good as It Gets" and "The Truman Show". This is undoubtedly a very cost-effective choice for Paramount. Not only can it win two works closely related to Hugo in one go, but it can also win over the Endeavor Elite Brokerage Company and DreamWorks behind Hugo, and stand on the side of Paramount. From Ramon's point of view, it was the perfect choice.

So, three days ago, "The Truman Show" was handed over to Rick.

For Rick, there are countless scripts handed to Hugo, but he cannot hand over all the scripts to Hugo, they must be screened. So, after Rick read it, his first instinct told him that Hugo would definitely be interested in this script, but he didn't rush to make a decision. However, just when Rick was thinking about it, Shirley decided to take the initiative and brought Peter to the door to make friends-this is definitely an important move to break the deadlock for Hugo, who values ​​love and righteousness.

Although Hugo's reserved attitude is somewhat unexpected, it is still expected, and Paramount is bound to have follow-up actions in the future. It depends on who can have the last laugh in this battle-Sony Columbia Pictures, which has the support of Allen, will not let it go easily. DreamWorks, which has taken the lead, still holds the initiative. The amount of chips in hand cannot be underestimated...

"So, the question is?" Hugo listened to Rick explaining a lot, and felt that his brain had already started to get knotted. The only thing he could be sure of was that the interests of these big companies were still the focus of competition. He really didn't have a clear concept of how much it was involved: after all, it wasn't his money.

Rick also laughed, "You are the first choice of 'The Truman Show', and Kim is the second choice. Then... Then it depends on your own choice, no matter what the result is, it doesn't make much difference to you "The difference lies in the status of Endeavor Elite Brokerage Company, of course, the conditions of cooperation, and the subsequent development of the two projects.

"That is to say, I can choose according to my own ideas, right?" Hugo concluded, and after a long circle, Shirley and the others turned out to be "perfect"—or more accurately, The Hugos behind "As Good As It Gets" Sure enough, after entering a new level, everything can involve interests and become more and more complicated.

"Of course, this is your right." Rick nodded. As an actor, it is really unimaginable to be able to reach the height of Hugo today, because Hugo almost mobilized three points by himself. One of Hollywood, where the intricate relationships and interests, even if they themselves are in it, it is difficult to see the overall situation.

What Rick didn't say is that Hugo's choices are bound to have far-reaching consequences, and almost every different choice requires a different countermeasure. However, this is their job and has nothing to do with Hugo, so Rick has no intention of speaking out, just leaving the decision to Hugo.

Hugo let out a long sigh of relief, "Very well, this is good news for me."

However, shortly after the good news came out, Steven brought a piece of not-so-good news: DreamWorks couldn't spend that much budget to meet the "perfect" requirements, and the 20 million cap is the only room they have at the moment . In fact, this is not a surprise, because Dreamworks is still not a top player at present. In the confrontation with giants such as Sony Columbia Pictures and Paramount Pictures, their capital is too little, and their only bargaining chip It is the strong friendship between Hugo, Steven and David.

It seems that DreamWorks is about to miss "As Good as It Gets".